invalid SMART checksum bug

[anemmer]

I am getting an "invalid SMART checksum" error when I run smartctl and there is not documentation for it and I can't find anything on the web about it so I think it may be a bug. Please investigate. Thank you.

[Alex Samorukov]

1. Message itself indicates that SMART data coming from drive has uncorrect chipset. This could be caused by different reasons, including firmware/drive issues, OS or controller bug.
2. If you want some help please provide more details about your OS and hardware.
3. Before reporting please update to the recent smartmontools version and if bug is reproducible - send smartctl full output to this ticket.

[Christian Franke]

The "invalid SMART checksum" warning is often reported for still empty SMART error or self-test logs. This is harmless and could be ignored.

Please provide a sample output as attachment(!) to this ticket.

[anemmer]

smartctl 5.39.1 2010-01-28 r3054 [i486-slackware-linux-gnu] (local build)
Copyright (C) 2002-10 by Bruce Allen, ​http://smartmontools.sourceforge.net

START OF INFORMATION SECTION

Model Family: Hitachi Deskstar 7K80 series
Device Model: HDS728080PLAT20
Serial Number: PFD219SYU97E1E
Firmware Version: PF2OA2AA
User Capacity: 82,348,277,760 bytes
Device is: In smartctl database [for details use: -P show]
ATA Version is: 7
ATA Standard is: ATA/ATAPI-7 T13 1532D revision 1
Local Time is: Tue Aug 19 11:56:41 2014 MST
SMART support is: Available - device has SMART capability.
SMART support is: Enabled

START OF READ SMART DATA SECTION

SMART overall-health self-assessment test result: PASSED

General SMART Values:
Offline data collection status: (0x00) Offline data collection activity

was never started.
Auto Offline Data Collection: Disabled.

Self-test execution status: ( 0) The previous self-test routine completed

without error or no self-test has ever
been run.

Total time to complete Offline
data collection: (1828) seconds.
Offline data collection
capabilities: (0x5b) SMART execute Offline immediate.

Auto Offline data collection on/off support.
Suspend Offline collection upon new
command.
Offline surface scan supported.
Self-test supported.
No Conveyance Self-test supported.
Selective Self-test supported.

SMART capabilities: (0x0003) Saves SMART data before entering

power-saving mode.
Supports SMART auto save timer.

Error logging capability: (0x01) Error logging supported.

General Purpose Logging supported.

Short self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 1) minutes.
Extended self-test routine
recommended polling time: ( 31) minutes.

SMART Attributes Data Structure revision number: 16
Vendor Specific SMART Attributes with Thresholds:
ID# ATTRIBUTE_NAME FLAG VALUE WORST THRESH TYPE UPDATED WHEN_FAILED RAW_VALUE

1 Raw_Read_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 016 Pre-fail Always - 0
2 Throughput_Performance 0x0005 100 100 050 Pre-fail Offline - 0
3 Spin_Up_Time 0x0007 106 106 024 Pre-fail Always - 197 (Average 180)
4 Start_Stop_Count 0x0012 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 175
5 Reallocated_Sector_Ct 0x0033 100 100 005 Pre-fail Always - 0
7 Seek_Error_Rate 0x000b 100 100 067 Pre-fail Always - 0
8 Seek_Time_Performance 0x0005 100 100 020 Pre-fail Offline - 0
9 Power_On_Hours 0x0012 095 095 000 Old_age Always - 35999

10 Spin_Retry_Count 0x0013 100 100 060 Pre-fail Always - 0
12 Power_Cycle_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 175

192 Power-Off_Retract_Count 0x0032 099 099 050 Old_age Always - 1667
193 Load_Cycle_Count 0x0012 099 099 050 Old_age Always - 1667
194 Temperature_Celsius 0x0002 144 144 000 Old_age Always - 38 (Lifetime Min/Max 17/46)
196 Reallocated_Event_Count 0x0032 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
197 Current_Pending_Sector 0x0022 100 100 000 Old_age Always - 0
198 Offline_Uncorrectable 0x0008 100 100 000 Old_age Offline - 0
199 UDMA_CRC_Error_Count 0x000a 200 200 000 Old_age Always - 0

SMART Error Log Version: 1
No Errors Logged

SMART Self-test log structure revision number 1
Num Test_Description Status Remaining LifeTime(hours) LBA_of_first_error
# 1 Short offline Completed without error 00% 35914 -
# 2 Short offline Completed without error 00% 35913 -

Warning! SMART Selective Self-Test Log Structure error: invalid SMART checksum.
SMART Selective self-test log data structure revision number 1

SPAN MIN_LBA MAX_LBA CURRENT_TEST_STATUS

1 0 0 Not_testing
2 0 0 Not_testing
3 0 0 Not_testing
4 0 0 Not_testing
5 0 0 Not_testing

Selective self-test flags (0x0):

After scanning selected spans, do NOT read-scan remainder of disk.

If Selective self-test is pending on power-up, resume after 0 minute delay.

[Christian Franke]

This is a harmless drive firmware bug which could be safely ignored. It is not a smartctl bug.

The warning may possibly disappear when the Selective Self-Test log is no longer empty. The warning could also be suppressed with the -b ignore option, see man page.

Please note that your smartctl version 5.39.1 is very old. The 5.39 drive database branch is no longer updated since 2011.

BTW: For future problem reports PLEASE don't paste smartctl sample output to a ticket comment. Use an attachment or alternatively Wiki Formatting syntax for Preformatted Text, thanks.